Yahoo Autos 2023 Honda Pilot First Look: Better looking, more rugged, more family friendly
The Honda Pilot has experienced some rotten timing over the years. After helping establish the three-row crossover segment with its highly successful first-generation, Honda decided to switch things up and make a boxier, more rugged second-generation. Unfortunately, that coincided with a gas price surge that sent shoppers away from boxy, rugged vehicles. The third-generation went back to what worked originally, but was perhaps too much of a course correction, as boxy and rugged made a comeback in recent years. Now, to see if the fourth time’s a charm, the all-new, fourth-generation 2023 Honda Pilot arrives as a sort of blending of the two approaches.
The styling is indeed boxier than its melted soap predecessor, with the Honda Pilot TrailSport version leaning heavily into the rugged realm, but Honda didn’t go full 4Runner here. There is still a clean refinement to the design, which, when combined with the boxy silhouette, is a bit reminiscent of the Volvo XC90. Any comparison to that timeless beauty is always a good thing. Ornamentation is similarly restrained, and in person, both the Elite and TrailSport versions certainly put the 2023 Pilot in the running for the segment’s best-looking. At very least, it’s a lot less minivan-adjacent now.
The new Pilot is nearly 3 inches longer, with a similarly lengthened wheelbase, making it a bit more minivan-adjacent inside. That’s especially true of the novel new second-row seating arrangement standard on the Touring and Elite trims. At first look, it’s a bench seat, but as in the Odyssey and the Pilot’s Acura MDX cousin, the middle seat folds to create a console-like armrest, or (here’s the big part) be removed completely from the car. There’s no need to choose between eight-passenger bench seat or seven-passenger captain’s chairs at the dealer (unless you’re in the price range of a Sport, EX-L or TrailSport). Ah, but here’s the even bigger part: That middle seat can actually be stored inside the Pilot behind the third row and under the cargo floor. There’s a strap and tie-down points included as well. It’s not exactly light or easy to pull the seat out, but the fact that it’s possible is really impressive.
Third-row space grows by 2.5 extra inches of legroom, and is even friendlier for bigger teens and adults. A 6-foot-3 person fit quite comfortably back there. Cargo space explodes by 6 cubic-feet behind that third row from a decent 16.5 cubes to 22.4. Apparently, that does not include the huge underfloor area, which as before, can be utilized to carry even more luggage. We’ll be curious to see how much better the new Pilot is in a luggage test than its already-impressive predecessor.
